2016 Premiership Rings Competition: Interviews with Luke Lewis, James Maloney and Wade Graham

[00:00:01] The Royal Motor Yacht Club Port Hacking is a hidden gem of the Shire, situated on the banks of the beautiful Port Hacking. It's a great place to catch up with friends, celebrate your birthday or any special occasion, and they always show the NRL live on the big screens. The RMYC Port Hacking, proud sponsors of this podcast and big supporters of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. Check out their website rmycph.com.au

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[00:01:04] Hey there, welcome to SharkCast, part of a podcast dedicated to the greatest sporting club in the history of the world, the mighty Cronulla Sutherland Sharks. This episode is brought to you by Dyson Logistics, the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Port Hacking and Jason Hawes at Cripps and Cripps Real Estate. We urge you to seek out these companies, use them, we're proud of them. If you are a company or business yourself or you work for one and want to have your business or company promoted on this show, drop me a line sharkharspot at gmail.com or DM us on the socials and we'll get back to you and talk a bit of shop.

[00:01:33] Until then, very special episode coming up, one that wasn't really planned, but that's how life kind of is sometimes. And we were lucky enough to catch up with three Premiership winners. So that's right, you didn't mishear that. I didn't talk to Cam McInnes today, I didn't talk to Teague Wilton, I didn't talk to tall Tom Hazleton, because this whirlwind came through Ocean Protect Stadium and out of that whirlwind I saw three Premiership winners.

[00:02:02] I saw Luke Lewis leading the way and right behind him was Wade Graham and little Jimmy Maloney. And I was blessed to get some time with them and you'll hear that on this show today. There is a really cool promotion that's about to start, I think it's Friday this week, you'll be hearing more about it officially, probably before then as well. It involves the last home game of the year against Melbourne, round 27. It's going to be a massive day and night.

[00:02:28] And the particular promotion I'm talking about revolves around the 2016 Premiership winning team. And what better way to commemorate 10 years of awesomeness against the Storm down at Ocean Protect Stadium. The team will be there, they'll do a lap of honour. But there is a chance for us as fans to join their group for a night. And it's chaos, it's crazy, it's amazing. I hope all 17 winners are from SharkCast audience.

[00:02:57] I hope I'm a winner. I don't know if I'm allowed to enter. I should check that. I probably can, right? Anyway, this is not about me. This is about us as a community. Shark Nation. Here's what's going on briefly and I'll let Louie explain it properly. There is a promotion being run where they're making 17 replica but amazing Premiership rings. Each winner gets one. They're presented that by a nominated player from that team of 2016.

[00:03:26] You get to be on the field when they do their lap of honour. You get to, I believe, cheer on the Sharks as they run out the NRL team this year against Melbourne. And the big perk, I think, as well is you'll be watching the game, the NRL game, that night with the 2016 team and their associated crew. Like, there'll be assistant coaches and that kind of thing hanging out. But essentially, you get to watch the game with the 2016 team. And that's unbelievable. You get the ring. You get the ring.

[00:03:56] Not talking down the ring. The ring is amazing. The way you go about this is a simple raffle draw. Now, I believe you need to buy a ticket. Sharks have heart, are heavily involved. But it is a random draw. It's not the biggest winner wins. You could have one ticket and you might win. Of course, the more tickets you have, the better your chances. It's going to be computer generated. It's all above board. Louie will tell you all about that. And you'll be hearing more about it throughout the weeks and months.

[00:04:25] It's a fantastic thing that Luke Lewis' company is doing in association with the Sharks. And that's what the three of them were doing down at Ocean Protect Stadium today. Just talking it up a little bit. And they were very, very cool about it all. And very appreciative that they're going to get their word out on our show. And other means, of course. So, fantastic, brilliant stuff from the 2016 team. And I have to say, led by Luke Lewis, he's heavily involved in this promotion.

[00:04:54] So, you'll be hearing more about it. I'm just super happy to talk about it because it's 2016. And I can talk about 2016 underwater, as you know. And as most of you can too. So, you'll be hearing from Luke Lewis. You'll be hearing from Wade Graham. And you'll be hearing from Jimmy Maloney. Now, I can hear you all saying, Shanaz, get out of the pass, man. It's 2026. We've got a game to win. Friday night against Manly. In my mind, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, I'm there already. I can't wait. Huge game.

[00:05:23] Foz ball is coming to town. As much as we dislike Manly, it's hard to dislike Foz. And we're in for a really classic game. I think Wilton Sharks will be up for it. Team list is out tomorrow. But coming off State of Origin, we'll see who's going to back up, who's not going to back up for both teams. A lot to dissect. We'll be doing that throughout the week. I do want to say that our week is a bit short. I'm not calling it a short week. But we're playing on Friday. There's Origin Women's, Thursday Origin Men's, Wednesday.

[00:05:52] It kind of tinkers with things quite a lot, to be honest. We'll still have a whole bunch of episodes out. You'll still be hearing from us. Just stay tuned, subscribe, and you'll hear everything. But I'm just letting you know, it's a bit of a shorter turnaround for us this week only. Definitely. Quick plug as well for our friend Don Rogers, talented musician, Sharks Royalty. He's going to be at the game on Friday evening. And he's going to play a few songs on the field, I believe.

[00:06:20] Two of his new songs that are out now on all your streaming applications. So give Donnie a follow and a like. And if you see him down at the game, tell him Sharks told you about it. And we're hoping you'll hear from Donnie before that as well on the show. So we'll see how that pans out. But yeah, it's going to be a huge game. Make sure you get down there if you can. If you can't, you know where you can watch it and listen to it. But if you can get down there, Manly-Cronola, Cronola-Manly, they're always pretty special. Fitzgibbon has turned the club around when it comes to Manly.

[00:06:49] We can actually beat them, which is great. It's going to be a good one. Get your tickets now. Don't want to rock up too late and not get a ticket. Get your tickets now. Let's get another win. Big win over the dogs. We had the week off. I've crunched a few numbers. We'll be talking about that throughout the week. We have won two of our last three after the bye. It doesn't feel like it, but we have this year. Not the case, but let's rectify that this week against Manly. I've spoken too much. I want you to hear from the 2016 Premiership winners. Please enjoy.

[00:07:19] We'll talk to you soon. Up, up. Center of the field. Wallace comes away. Five season. Luke Lewis, the Clive of Churchill, Meta winner, back on SharkCast after so long. You're still involved with the club. You're a business entrepreneur. And why don't you just tell our listeners straight up why we're talking right now? Well, first of all, it's great to be on the SharkCast. I love it. I watch you.

[00:07:49] I follow you on Instagram, which is awesome. Thank you, sir. But yeah, look, we've got the 2016 team back together, which is awesome. That's 10 years since we won the grand final, which is the most amazing night of my life. I had my daughter there and first grand final for the Sharks, which was pretty cool. But we've put together an experience that we think it's an experience of a lifetime for Sharks fans or someone who, or even a collector really.

[00:08:11] But what the actual experience is, so on round 27, it's amazing how the draw has sort of unfolded. But round 27, we play the Melbourne Storm here and we're going to have all the boys back here. And it's obviously old boys day as well. And we're going to do a lap of honor. So what's involved in this raffle is that you'll win a premiership ring, which has been fully designed about the grand final night. So where it was played, the scoreline, all the other details that needs to be put into the ring that tells a story.

[00:08:40] Now, I've heard a little bit about this ring. Yeah. And you haven't cut corners here. No, definitely not. It's been an amazing project. We've done some really cool stuff. And then this is just an opportunity to come up. I think what a great time to sort of be able to do something for the 2016 boys, the club and obviously the fans. So to take them back to that 2016 night. So yeah, the whole experience is about the raffle be drawn the week before.

[00:09:08] You'll rock up here on the night where the Melbourne Storm play against the Sharks at Shark Park, which is awesome. And then you will receive, if you are a lucky winner, you will receive the ring off the person that you drawed it out on. So if you pull a number one, if Benny Barber pulls your number out, you will receive a ring and this gift box and some other little special things that are inside it from Benny Barber. So if you pull it from Wade Graham or James Maloney, Paul Gallant, it's the same sort of process. What also will happen is that you'll get to do a lap of honor with the boys, stand in the guard of honor, clap the team on,

[00:09:37] and then spend the night up in the catered box watching the Melbourne Storm and the Cronulla Sharks play on round 27. I reckon out of all the prizes, and there's so many, that last one, hanging with the boys, watching the current team play, that is priceless. It is. It's something that no one's ever done before. No club's ever done it. And it's great to see the Sharks initiative to sort of jump on and sort of see a really big hole to fill.

[00:10:03] And it's an opportunity for fans that, you know, that love the club, would love to spend some time with the players, and then also be able to watch a game. And if you've got any questions during the game, you've got so many smart football heads in there that would be able to sort of, you know, give you a lot of insight on what's happening in the game. So it's pretty cool. It's a great experience. And at the same time, you get to walk away with something that's pretty much replaceable, really. There's only 17 of them too. So it's, there's, there's, there's, there will never be repeated again, never be made again. And that is it.

[00:10:32] Am I correct in saying it's not how much you put into the raffle, it's luck of the draw? Yes, absolutely. So it's going to be luck of the draw. Obviously, the more tickets you got in the draw, you've got more chance of winning, but it's all luck of the draw. So it will literally be computer generated. We'll have that all live as well. So that will be filmed. People will be able to know. The winners will know exactly when we know, which is great. So the names will be called out at the same time. And each individual won't have the whole 16 team there for the draw because some of them leaving Queensland. So they'll be down the following week.

[00:11:01] But the draw will be done on the 28th of August. Are you confident all the players will be here on that night? Yes. Except for obviously Jack Bird. Jack Bird can't make it. He's over in England. He's playing obviously in the Super League at the moment. But he's right behind us all. He's doing a lot of videos. He really wants to be here. He's even asked if he could get off. And I said, mate, I don't think you're going to be able to do that. That's paying your bills, you know? So, yeah, look, I think everyone will be here. The only other person we're waiting for is Matty Pryor. He's off the Richter scale at the moment.

[00:11:31] We can't find him, but we think he's over in Bali doing a bit of a surfing trip. So, yeah, but look, everyone else is super excited, super keen. We've caught up a few times. And yes, the experience is going to be, you know, once in a lifetime for a very special fan. Without getting too controversial, is the coach going to be around? Yes. So it's funny you say that because I had a good chat with Shane Flindigan the other day and obviously he was at the Dragons. So the plan was to get him here that night anyway, because the Dragons play on the Sunday. So that would have been great. But he's obviously not coaching now. He's doing a bit of work with Triple M.

[00:12:01] And yeah, so the goal is to actually have our whole group, not just the players. The goal is to have coaches, staff. Obviously there's assistant coaches who are still coaching now in Steve Price and so on. And they won't be able to be over there because they'll be coaching. But we're also looking to try and get our head of performance, our physios, all the people that were involved. We want to try and get to that club that night. So it's a really special moment for everyone. Unbelievable, dude. Do you want to give your company a bit of a plug? Yeah, absolutely.

[00:12:29] Well, look, we've started obviously a championship ring business, which is called Premiership Ring Co. And we are up and running. We don't launch live until probably next year, but everything is going really, really well. We're doing a lot of projects. We've got a lot of people reaching out. It's been amazing. We're setting up a beautiful big office down in Tarrant Point, just on Captain Cook Drive. But literally the world is your oyster. Our whole goal was to give kids an experience like they're heroes.

[00:12:57] So when they see the players like Nathan Cleary or Wade Graham or Paul Gawain with their photos holding their rings on their finger and keeping those memory pieces for the rest of your life, that's what we wanted to create. So our goal is to bring the Super Bowl-style ring ceremony to Australia. And that's what we're doing at the moment. We've put a lot of money and time into it, and it's going really, really well. But we don't just do it for kids as well. We're doing it for professional sports teams like the Cronulla Sharks. There's other interests with the Penrith Panthers and so on. And our goal is to sort of be able to cater for everyone,

[00:13:28] corporates, junior sport, all sports, not just rugby league, soccer, netball, everything. So it's been fun. A lot of learning curves, but really looking forward to, I suppose, how it's going to unfold over the next couple of years. All right. Thanks for your time, Louie. Really appreciate it. Thank you very much. And as always, thanks for 2016. You're a good man, mate. Thank you. Thanks, Louie.

[00:14:07] All right. James Maloney, Premiership winning 5-8. It's been, I reckon, 10 years since you've been on the show. Great to have you back. Last round of the year against the Storm. Luke Lewis has organised this raffle to win a Premiership win and experience the whole thing. Are you excited? Yeah, it is. It's such a cool concept. You know, good that Groover sort of come up with it because it'll be pretty special, you know,

[00:14:32] for the fact that it holds so much significance to the Shire, you know, we're still the only side that's won a Premiership and 10 years on, you know, crazy where that 10 years has gone. But I think even, like, it's almost just turned out perfect that the last home game is against Melbourne who we obviously beat 10 years ago. So, yeah, awesome, awesome concept.

[00:14:59] I'm sure every Cronulla fan will be dying to get their heads. I want the rings. I've seen the prototype of the rings. They look awesome. So, yeah. And then to get, you know, all the 2016 crew back together and be able to present someone with a ring that'll be a, you know, one-off. You know, it will never be replicated again. That'll be awesome, yeah. So, Luke was also saying that part of the experience is

[00:15:27] the winner will hang out with you guys up in the box over there, watch the game with the winning Premiership team. That's unbelievable. Yeah, it is. So, someone's just going to, like, harass you for, like, 80 minutes about, why did Trindle do this? And, you know, like, it's amazing. What a great experience. Yeah, it is. And I think, you know, that's one of those, you know, money can't buy experiences, isn't it, you know, to have that. So, yeah, no doubt there'll be a lot of demand. And I think that's the idea, obviously.

[00:15:57] Create it. It'll be a ruffle. So, there's... The only way you can get it is through luck and buying the tickets. And, you know, it sort of means that anyone, you know, can win it. You know, it's not sort of reserved for a certain group of people. All it's any fan whatsoever can have a shot at winning it. And, yeah, I'm sure it'll be very popular. Have you watched the game back? The big game? Mate, I haven't, to be fair. I haven't watched...

[00:16:26] Is there a plan to do it with the group or is... I don't know. I don't know. Possibly. I'm not really sure. Haven't really... We haven't really dug into it, maybe. Do you think you'll ever watch it back yourself? Yeah, I don't think that... I don't... I haven't not watched it for a reason. You know, just... Yeah, just something that hasn't really come up. I've never watched the Roosters one back either. I've never watched the Warriors one that I lost. Yeah, it's just... Yeah, I'll just sort of move on.

[00:16:56] But no doubt, I'm sure at some stage I'll probably watch it again for sure. Incredible game. I mean, we as fans, we know it back to front. Do you have a lot of memories from the actual game itself? Like from things that happened during the game? A little bit, yeah. Yeah, look, obviously, hard to forget for feeders. Try, obviously, early on, going through the line and finding Louie, who fell just short. You know, a lot of the moments, you know, the key moments I can remember. Yeah.

[00:17:25] You know, maybe some of the other stuff in between is sort of forgot, but the key moments I sort of, yeah, still remember. The ending was just so crazy. I don't think we've spoken about that since it happened. The ending, the last play, you know, the bell goes and Melbourne's still going to tackle and it goes forever and we're all having heart attacks. What was that like for you out in the field? Yeah, look, it was probably not perfect, but I think, I say to everyone, I said, I think

[00:17:51] for the fact that it was the first premiership to win, I think that is a better ending than if you won by, you know, 12 points or whatever. Yeah. Because then, you know, with a couple of minutes to go, you know, oh, we can't lose now. Yeah. You know, so I think for it to go for the very first one, you know, for it to be such a big occasion, for it to go right down to the last tackle, I think is a fitting way for it to

[00:18:17] happen and, you know, I know there were so many videos around of, you know, people video and Cronulla fans in front of a TV and the range of emotions and stuff like that. So that's cool. You know, I think, you know, as much as they might say, oh, it was the worst minute of my life, I think it made it pretty special. So it's cool. It was very Cronulla-like given the history of the club. Yeah, yeah. Well, I suppose, but we got the job done. So that's all we needed to do.

[00:18:48] Are you in touch with a lot of the boys as a group? Like prior to this, do you talk to the guys often or? Yeah, we've had a few different catch ups around and at different times. Obviously, there's a few boys away up Queensland way and that now. So it's not always possible to catch up. The boys, we all went to catch up at Magic Ground. There was a crew of them again. I was meant to go. I was a bit dusty that morning, so I didn't go.

[00:19:17] But yeah, I think you always sort of stay in contact a little bit. You know, it's no coincidence that the sides you have success with and win competitions with, you're very tight knit, you know, before that. I think to win competitions, you have to be a real tight knit group. And then obviously having the experience of winning it together. It's something where you probably always stay in touch, you know. You're a podcaster yourself now. How's that going?

[00:19:45] Yeah, it goes all right, mate. Sort of plugging away. I go in and have a yarn about stuff. So yeah, it's good. Yeah, doing my rugby league journeyman. And then I've been doing one with News Corp lately as well. So yeah. That's cool. Help them pay the bills, mate. All right. Appreciate your time. We'll see you last round. It's going to be awesome. No worries. Sounds good. Thank you, Jimmy. So now Milford. Oh!

[00:20:22] I think he saw that play coming. He lined him up from last week. Look at this. Crash. Big hit though. Hey Graham, welcome back to Sharkast Pod. Luke Lewis breaking news about premiership rings and replicas and hanging out with the boys. It's pretty exciting. Yeah, when Louis told us his idea, I thought it was awesome. Obviously, it's a good year for us. Reminiscing and catching up with each other. We've already done a few things already. So it's good to see everyone.

[00:20:51] But it also meant a lot to the community. So for the fans or the members who win to have the opportunity to come and rub shoulders with us at the reunion and catch up. Because the game obviously meant a lot to us, but it meant a whole lot more to the community as well. So yeah, it's cool. Yeah, the experience to hang out with you guys during the game, part of the prize. That is literally priceless. Yeah, definitely. And that year brought a lot of joy to Cronulla and the club.

[00:21:19] And to not only be able to celebrate with us, but to be able to celebrate it with whoever wins and to bring them in with us. I think it's a pretty cool experience. And like I said, it brings back great memories for the team, but also great memories for the fans and the club. Is there a plan to watch it back as a group? Watch the game finally? I'm not too sure. I don't think I've ever watched a whole game. I've watched bits and pieces of it. But yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'll have a plan in the background. All the guys I talk to, they haven't watched it back.

[00:21:49] Yeah, I think of the game. I remember the game. Yeah, I don't know why I haven't watched it actually. Probably something to pitch to Louis as part of it. Yeah, maybe put it on in the background. But played it once. Nerve-wracking enough just to play it in the last little bit. So I don't know how I'd go watching it. But no, it's a good time. Sometimes it seems like it was so long ago, and then other times it just seems like yesterday.

[00:22:15] But it's going to be great catching up with everyone and sharing some good stories from the old days. I believe everyone but Birdie is pretty much confirmed, so that's pretty exciting. Yeah, it's cool to get everyone around. Like I said, we've already caught up a few times. We caught up in Brisbane actually with a few of the boys who were around for Magic Round, and we've had a couple of coffees here and there. But to get the whole team together at a game here with the fans and to reminisce, it'll be good.

[00:22:44] All right, thanks for your time, Wade. I appreciate it. Cheers, mate. Thank you. Thank you, brother. The club that was formed in 1967, grand finals in the 70s. They went broke in the 80s. They went broke in the 90s. They had a DeSata scandal two years ago. Has any club in any country, in any sport, had a more arduous journey to its first title for the Quinoa Sharks?

[00:23:12] SharkCast is supported by the best and most honest real estate agent in the Sutherland Shire, Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. He's an expert in the Carring Bar region and has his eye all across the Shire. Lifelong Sharks fan and supporter of this podcast, if you're looking to buy or sell in the region, the person you need to be talking to is Jason Hawes from Crips & Crips Real Estate. Call him on 0410 417 450. That's 0410 417 450.

[00:23:41] Jason Hawes, Crips & Crips Real Estate. Sharkies! Sharkies! Back in the Shire. Turn your porch lights off because we're coming out with a truck.